Alan

Cash on collection me thinks unless the postman is Mr T

Thanks Chris. That was quick.   I'll pop it in a jiffy bag and post tomorrow.

Sorry to keep you all waiting. The first of the stash has just been posted in the FOR SALE section.  More to follow over the weekend.  Thanks again to Nigel and Ian for the help and guidance in identifying a lot of the stash.  As they suggested, I am listing some of the attachments first, followed by a few of the better condition tractors, although the listings could be mixed due to circumstances.
 
As some may already know, these items belong to an old friend who is in very poor health, and is having to dispose of his collection.  He is sorry to have to part with years of collecting but needs to downsize to a much smaller property.  He lives near Cranleigh, Surrey for those who will be wondering.
 
A lot of the collection is dry stored but some, which was stored outside under covers has suffered from the weather,  the covers having rotted away over the years and with everything being covered in brambles.  Still in the process of digging out which is a slow job as I can normally only get over to my friends place once a week, and he is not always in a fit state to help.
 
Any questions please ask.  I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
 
Alan.

Alan,
If you would be so good to do the same!
Thanks
Andrew

Thanks Chris. That was quick.   I'll pop it in a jiffy bag and post tomorrow.

Funny you should say that Paul, I do know of another Honda V twin bike engine that's not too far away     

A bit more progress to report.
 
Andrew found and purchased a sleeve hitch for the Bolens tube frames. He arraigned with the seller to send it to me for inclusion in the shipment. 
 
I have one pic of it, and at a later date I'll have a few more when I get it mounted on the tractor.
 
We also have the beginnings of the shipping crate.
 
It turned out to be a bit more of a project than I first thought.
 
I went over to the dealer, and discovered that the parts of the crate were too large to fit in the truck bed.  I have a Dodge Dakota with the crew cab, so the bed is a bit on the short side.  So, I said to myself  "Self, let's just go get the trailer and use it". Self replied, "I do believe that is a splendid idea".
 
Now this dealer is also the same dealer that originally put my forklift together.  They used and abused it for 30+ years, and about 2 years ago I managed to get them to sell it to me,  It worked great but did need some help both cosmetically and mechanically.  That was done over the winter before last.  You can see a long thread on that over at the GTT forums: http://gardentractortalk.com/forums/topic/29815-bolens-1886-forklift-refurb/page-1?hl=+refurb
 
They were also holding a Cub Cadet open house, with all of the new CCs available for a test drive, etc.  I sat and talked with then for awhile, and was talking to the father who was the original owner, and he expressed interest in seeing it now that it had been refurbed.
 
Once we got back home and I was hooking the trailer up to the Dakota, I once again opened up a conversations with Self.  "Self" I said "since we are taking the trailer anyway, why don't we load the forklift as well, and we can let the folks over there see what it looks like after the refurbish?"  Self replied "Brilliant!"  (I think I've been spending too much time on this forum and watching old episodes of Top Gear and the language is rubbing off on me  :D )
 
So, the forklift was loaded onto the trailer and back we (Self and I) went. We shot the breeze some more, and I finally started loading up the crate.  Now I gotta tell you, that was WAY too much like work!
 
There was a big stack of knocked down crates, and I spent a lot of time moving parts around until I finally found one of suitable size, and all the parts thereof.
 
Finally, I was all load up and back home I came.
 
Here are a few pics.
 
As you can see the poor Dakota had all it could handle with the forklift on the trailer
 
Another couple of pics of what will be the shipping crate.
 
And, a couple of pics of Andrew's 600 parked next to my HT20D.  The HT20D is sitting there because it's being shifted from the Winter mode to Summer mode.  The blade will be coming off and the flail mower will be going on.  I just HAD to take those pics as it so clearly shows the difference in sizes between the first of the tube frames and basically the last (size wise) of the large frames.
 
Andrew's 600 is there because I was attaching the sleeve hitch. However, I ran into a problem, so the hitch isn't on it yet. I will describe all of that in a later post

That will do me then
 
Sold!

Color looks right for the earlier Bolens.
 
I can tell you that it DOES NOT fit the tube frames or large frames.

That would be what we call the "Square Back" tiller for the tube frames.
 
It's a very heavy duty tiller and is capable of working virgin ground.

Sorry to keep you all waiting. The first of the stash has just been posted in the FOR SALE section.  More to follow over the weekend.  Thanks again to Nigel and Ian for the help and guidance in identifying a lot of the stash.  As they suggested, I am listing some of the attachments first, followed by a few of the better condition tractors, although the listings could be mixed due to circumstances.
 
As some may already know, these items belong to an old friend who is in very poor health, and is having to dispose of his collection.  He is sorry to have to part with years of collecting but needs to downsize to a much smaller property.  He lives near Cranleigh, Surrey for those who will be wondering.
 
A lot of the collection is dry stored but some, which was stored outside under covers has suffered from the weather,  the covers having rotted away over the years and with everything being covered in brambles.  Still in the process of digging out which is a slow job as I can normally only get over to my friends place once a week, and he is not always in a fit state to help.
 
Any questions please ask.  I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge.
 
Alan.

I have not been this excited since I collected my ex girlfriend from a Anne Summers' Party back in the 80s. The anticipation was unbearable. All this teasing just got to stop!

I took some time to drive the Bolens H16 and then wash it up after sitting in the shed for a few month, also scrubbed and sanded the deck. It's got a first coat, next it will get a vigorous sanding, filling primer, and finish coat with poly converter added for hardness and gloss retention. The white specks are ash from the burn barrel, paint was more than dry

Well, nothing went bang so out came the grinder..
 

 
 
Strange baffle thingy.. I guess it's there to stop dirt from entering the carbs..
 

 
 
About to go under the knife grinder
 

 
 
After fuel tap pipe enlargement surgery..
 

 
 
I had to lower the fuel tap to give me a fighting chance of getting some sort of air filter fitted!
Yes the fuel tap outlet is lower than the carb fuel inlet, but as the tank is above the inlet gravity should still do it's thing and fuel the carbs up.
 

 
 
The old fuel tap hole was blocked up by screwing in the end of this bolt and some welding.
 

 
 
I still need to make some brackets to bolt the tank down but as it will need to go in and out a lot while I sort the induction side of things out that job can wait a little while..
 
Speaking of induction, this was the carbs to air filter box pipework.. I only needed the carb ends..
 

 
 
Which were a perfect fit over this 2 inch diameter pipe, or part of a Reliant prop shaft to give it it's full name..
 

 
 
The plan is to plumb this pipe into both carbs and stick and air filter on both ends....   This time I will make sure I get the right size filters
 

made a new home for the old girl today untill i get the time to do it
 

I mechanically restored a Bolen's 800 about 6-7 years ago for my niece who called me today and wants me to come get it since they are moving. So I will have it in my hands in a couple of weeks. Let me know if anyone out there is interested in a classic. At the time I put a brand new 10HP Tecumseh in it and it ran great..... don't know what condition it is in now but will find out soon.   Attaching some pics (TAKEN 6-7 YRS AGO). I love the look of this tractor and mower..... Will be available at my home in Brewster, NY 
 

 

 

 

 
 

"Picked it up"    Bet that was heavy.

Looking forward to seeing the sales list and phots Alan. Well done to Nigel and Ian for helping you out with this mammoth task but rest assured they will go to good homes.

Thanks, Nigel and Ian for all your help yesterday. Hope your trip home was OK.  I hope to get some of the better tractors and attachments up for sale soon. A lot more work involved than expected when I first mentioned this stash, but getting there, SLOWLY.

Ian and I payed a visit to Alan and John today to help with a bit of advice on the collection we had a superb day but very tiring it was, we have helped him log and age the items that they will be selling but the best bit is there lots of attachments and other goodies. I must stress that as moderators we did not buy any tractors or attachments , keep your eyes peeled for Alan's forthcoming posts, this was one of the best days I've had in years .thanks Alan and john

Gentlemen,
 
Sometime back, April 16 in fact, Andrew (Triumph66) sent me a PM over on the GTTalk forums.
 
There was a 1962 Bolens 600 listed on eBay that he was interested in, and he wanted to know if I would assist him in getting it shipped to him if he bought it.
 
One reason for his request was that it had been posted on the GTTalk forums and I told folks that I was VERY close to where it was located and that I could pick up and store it if anyone was interested.
 
I replied that I would be more than glad to help, and Andrew got VERY interested.   Since he was so interested, I decided to go take a look at it in person as it was only 20 miles from me.
 
I took a good look at it and took it for a spin around the barn yard, and was VERY impressed with it.
 
I asked the seller if he knew anything about the history of the tractor and he explained that he worked in a scrap yard, and that someone had brought it in to be scrapped     Since he is a bit knowledgeable he set it off to the side so that they could sell it rather than scrapping it
 
Why on earth someone would do that is beyond me.  As you will see in the following pics, it's one of the nicest original tractors that you will ever see.  It's absolutely beautiful
 
It was listed with a starting bit of $300.00 and for one reason or another no one bid on it and Andrew STOLE it for the minimum bid.
 
PM's started flowing fast and furious, and after wired bank funds finally arrived (that was a story in itself), I contacted the seller and made arrangements to pick it up.
 
So today I hooked up the trailer and went to fetch the mighty Bolens.
 
One thing that Andrew mentioned was maybe I could take a pic of the Bolens with an 'iconic' American building in the back round,  I hope I succeeded  :D
 
I did stop on the way home to take a pic or two of some "iconic' bovines as well.  You don't see them often in this part of the country, but if you ever watched the old Westerns, you should be able to figure out what they are :D
 
So without further ado, the pics, starting from hooked up and ready to go, to back home with it one the trailer.  I will be taking more pics as we go along and most likely a video or two as well.

Thanks guys!
A couple more, I think Ewan will be joining and posting pics.

Thanks Guys..
 
 
Only a small update guys..
 
Happy that my strange braking system will work, today I started to refine it a bit.
 
New connecting lever on the left, prototype on the right.. As you can see I decided it needed a bit of shape to it
 

 
 
Here it is fitted..
 

 
 
The handbrake lever looked like it had been pulled from an old Marina or something, so I gave it a "Wheel Horse" make over. The bottom half will be covered by the side panel..
I think it looks more the part
 

That's what I've used on the C-81 and C-121. I've added a piece on the rear of the foot plate as well, to stop boot heels marking there.
 
 You can just see on the photo below.